Aftenposten
- The Court of Impeachment.
- Sam. Eyde 60 years old on Friday.
- The jubilee of the National Stage.
This Aftenposten page of 26 October 1926 leads with an editorial on the Court of Impeachment convened against the former Berge government. It mocks a Venstre paper for boasting that it demanded the trial on the very day the state deposit in Handelsbanken became known, and argues that after a year and a half in which the Venstre and Labour press had the floor, it is now the court's turn to speak. A tribute marks Sam. Eyde's 60th birthday on Friday, hailing him as the creator of Norsk Hydro, a man who gave a livelihood to 25,000 people where 1,000 had lived and created two towns. A short news item lists the addresses and wreath presented at the matinee for the jubilee of Den nationale Scene in Bergen.
Translation
The Court of Impeachment.
A Venstre paper has boasted that it called for the Court of Impeachment on the very day the news of the state deposit in Handelsbanken was made public. That is no doubt true enough. And ever since, the paper, followed by the rest of the Venstre press and the whole of the Labour press, has stood under the sign of the Court of Impeachment. For a good year and a half the press has had the floor. So surely it was the court's turn when it at last convened in October?
Sam. Eyde 60 years old on Friday.
Who is Sam. Eyde? That is how an article about him in a Danish newspaper begins. In Norway it would be ridiculous to ask such a question. Every single schoolchild in Norway knows who Sam. Eyde is. Sam. Eyde is and remains, in Norway's history, the creator of "Norsk Hydro", the man who has created a livelihood for 25,000 people where 1,000 lived before, the man who has created two towns, besides much else.
The jubilee of the National Stage.
During the matinee yesterday, the theatre directors Bjørnson and Otto presented handsomely produced addresses from the Nationaltheatret and the Centralteatret. Likewise, a wreath from Norges Haandverks- og Industriforbund was presented by its chairman.
Context
How a secret 1923 bank loan led to the Court of Impeachment
The "state deposit in Handelsbanken" the editorial mentions was a loan of 25 million kroner that Abraham Berge's government gave in 1923 to Den Norske Handelsbanken in Trondheim. The decision was put neither before the King in Council nor before the Storting, and the government justified the secrecy as a way to avoid panic among the bank's customers. In 1924 the Storting voted a state guarantee of 15 million kroner for the bank without being told of the earlier loan, and the bank failed regardless. The Storting was informed only in January 1925, which fits the editorial's "good year and a half" of press agitation before the court met. Stortinget's own history dates the Odelsting's resolution to impeach to 14 July 1926, while Store norske leksikon gives 14 October 1926. Berge and six ministers from Frisinnede Venstre and Høyre were charged with acting against the Constitution by granting the support without a Storting decision and by failing in their duty to inform the Storting.
Party fronts in the press, and how the trial ended
The editorial's complaint that the Venstre and Labour press had stood "under the sign" of the trial reflects a sharply divided public debate. Stortinget's history records that the case drew great attention in the press, with strong party-political fronts, and that it put the conflict between the established elite and a growing labour movement on the agenda. Norges Kommunistblad went so far as to call Berge a "habitual criminal". Against this, the Aftenposten editorial argues that the court, not the press, should now have its say. The outcome came months after this page: proceedings opened on 21 March 1927, and on 25 March Berge and the six ministers were acquitted on formal grounds, because the charge had become time-barred under the legislation then in force.
Sam Eyde, Norsk Hydro and the new industrial towns
Eyde was born in Arendal on 29 October 1866, so he did turn 60 on the Friday after this issue. Together with Professor Kristian Birkeland he was central to establishing Norwegian nitrogen industry through what is now called the Birkeland–Eyde method. He helped found both Elektrokemisk (Elkem) and Norsk Hydro, and Hydro was established on 2 December 1905 with Eyde as director-general, a post he held until 1917. The excerpt does not name the "two towns" it credits him with, but the hydropower at Rjukan led to the development of Rjukan as an industrial centre, and in 1913 a new industrial site north of Arendal was christened Eydehavn. Store norske leksikon also notes that Eyde and the companies he helped found became Norwegian national symbols, which helps explain the tribute's claim that every schoolchild knew his name. The figures of 25,000 livelihoods against 1,000 earlier inhabitants are the paper's own.
Eyde's real share in Hydro and his standing in 1926
The tribute calls Eyde the creator of Norsk Hydro, and Eyde himself later portrayed himself in his autobiography as the chief figure in the development of Elkem and Norsk Hydro. Store norske leksikon judges it more accurate to speak of the birth of a multinational project in which Eyde played a key role. In 1903 he began cooperating with the brothers Knut and Marcus Wallenberg and their investment bank, and the Wallenbergs later drew on their connections with the French bank Paribas to raise further capital. By the time of this birthday Eyde was no longer director-general, and his tie to the company was about to end: his disputed role in Hydro's switch to the Haber–Bosch process in 1927 led to his being forced off Hydro's board that same year.
Den Nationale Scene and its roots in Ole Bull's Norwegian theatre
The jubilee in the news item marked fifty years of Den Nationale Scene, which was founded in Bergen in 1876 on the initiative of Bergen citizens led by Teaterforeningen. Its roots go back to 1850, when Det norske Theater was founded in Bergen on Ole Bull's initiative. Henrik Ibsen was instructor and consultant there in 1851–1857, and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson was its director in 1857–1859. That theatre's work was both artistic and national, and it helped make Norwegian the self-evident stage language in Norway before it had to close for financial reasons in 1863. In 1876 Teaterforeningen leased the old theatre building on Engen that had housed Det norske Theater, so the new company literally moved into its predecessor's home. In the following decades Bergen speech became the leading stage language at the theatre.
Original
Riksretten.
Et venstreblad har rost sig av, at det ropte paa riksretten allerede samme dag som meddelelsen om stats-indskuddet i Handelsbanken blev offentliggjort. Det er visst riktig nok. Og siden har bladet med følge av den øvrige venstrepresse og hele arbeiderpressen staat i riksrettens tegn. I godt og vel halvandet aar har pressen hat ordet. Saa var det vel rettens tur, da den omsider traadte sammen i oktober?
Sam. Eyde 60 aar fredag.
Hvem er Sam. Eyde? Saaledes begynder en artikkel om ham i en dansk avis. I Norge vilde det være latterlig at stille et slikt spørsmaal. Hvert eneste skolebarn i Norge vet hvem Sam. Eyde er. Sam. Eyde er og blir i Norges historie skaperen av» Norsk Hydro «, manden, som har skapt levebrød for 25, 000 mennesker, der hvor der før levet 1000, manden som har skapt to byer foruten meget andet.
Den nationale scenes jubilæum.
Under matineen igaar overrakte teaterchefene Bjørnson og Otto vakkert utstyrte adresser fra Nationaltheatret og Centralteatret. Likeledes blev der overrakt en krans fra Norges Haandverks - og Industriforbund ved formanden.